Samuel T. Durrance

Samuel Thornton Durrance
Durrance in 1996
Born	(1943-09-17)September 17, 1943 Tallahassee, Florida, U.S.
Died	May 5, 2023(2023-05-05) (aged 79) Viera, Florida, U.S.
Nationality	American
Occupation	Physicist
Space career
JHU Payload Specialist
Time in space	25d 14h 13min
Missions	STS-35, STS-67
Mission insignia

Samuel Thornton Durrance (September 17, 1943 – May 5, 2023) was an American scientist who flew aboard two NASA Space Shuttle missions as a payload specialist.

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Background

Durrance was born September 17, 1943, in Tallahassee, Florida, but grew up in Tampa, Florida.^[1] He attended Wilson Junior High and graduated from Plant High School^[2] in 1961, lettering in American football for three years and playing both defense and offense.^[3] He received a Bachelor of Science degree and a Master of Science degree in physics (with honors), at California State University, Los Angeles (Cal State LA), 1972 and 1974, respectively,^[1] and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in astro-geophysics at the University of Colorado at Boulder, 1980.^[3] In 2000, he was awarded a Honorary Doctor of Science from the University of Colorado at Boulder along with eight other astronaut alums.^[4]

Durrance was a principal research scientist in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland.^[5] He was a co-investigator for the Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope, one of the instruments of the Astro Observatory.^[5]

Beginning in 2001, he was the executive director of the Florida Space Research Institute which was located at the NASA Kennedy Space Center.^[6]

Durrance resided in Melbourne, Florida, and was a professor of physics and space sciences at Florida Institute of Technology.^[7]

Durrance was a member of the American Astronomical Society, American Geophysical Union, International Astronomical Union, Association of Space Explorers, Planetary Society, and Phi Kappa Phi.^[1]

Academic career

Durrance had been involved in the flight hardware development, optical and mechanical design, construction, and integration of the Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope and the Astro Observatory,^[8] and had conducted research and directed graduate students at the Johns Hopkins University^[9] He had designed and built spectrometers, detectors, and imaging systems, and made numerous spacecraft and ground-based astronomical observations. He conceived and directed a program at Johns Hopkins University to develop adaptive-optics instrumentation for ground-based astronomy. He led the team that designed and constructed the Adaptive Optics Coronagraph, which led to the discovery of the first cool brown dwarf orbiting a nearby star. He was also a co-discoverer of changes in the planet-forming disk surrounding the star beta Pictoris.

In March 1986,^[10] Durrance's first mission was for STS-61-E.^[11] It was canceled after the Challenger disaster.^[1] Durrance logged over 615 hours in space as a payload specialist and member of the crew of Space Shuttle Columbia for the STS-35/Astro-1 and Space Shuttle Endeavour for the STS-67/Astro-2 missions.^[9]

Later assignment (2006)

Durrance was employed by the Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne, Florida, serving as a professor in the Department of Aerospace, Physics and Space Sciences.^[12]

Illness and death

Durrance was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2021. He died at a hospice facility in Viera, Florida, on May 5, 2023, of complications from a fall, after battling dementia and Parkinson's disease. He was 79.^[13]